Mobile communication terminals, e.g. mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA) or the like have developed into computer terminals that offer almost the same functionality as a computer workstation or PC. These mobile terminals include office applications, internet browsers and game platforms, etc.
Many of the presently most advanced mobile communication terminals are operated with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that resembles the GUIs used in workstations and PCs. However, mobile communication terminals generally lack a pointer device such as a mouse and have inherently a significantly smaller available display area than computer workstations and PCs.
Prior art GUIs for mobile communication terminals such as the Symbian Series 60 or the Windows Mobile 2003 Software for Smartphone® therefore, display only one window at a time, and the single window will contain significantly less information than a comparable window in a GUI for a PC or workstation. In the above-mentioned GUIs for mobile communication terminals a contact or phonebook list in a standard configuration shows a list of names without further detail. The entries in the list can be selectively highlighted and when a highlighted entry is selected a new window with the details of corresponding entry is displayed. The user has to close the window containing the detailed contact information in order to return to the list.
Contact lists or phonebooks in a PC or workstation GUI's will in comparable situations be able to display a window with a list of entries in one area of the window and the details of the presently highlighted entry in another area of the window. This way of presenting the information will give the user a better overview and facilitate navigation between entries in the phone or address book. The display size of a mobile communication terminal is, however, insufficient for implementing the PC or workstation type GUI thereon.